1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to liquid containers comprising a liquid path through which liquid is introduced into the liquid container.
2. Description of Related Art
A known liquid container, such as an ink cartridge, is configured to be removably mounted to a known recording apparatus, such as an ink-jet recording apparatus. The known liquid container has a liquid chamber configured to store liquid therein, and a liquid supply opening configured to supply liquid from the interior of the liquid chamber to the exterior of the liquid container. When the liquid container is mounted to the recording apparatus, liquid stored in the liquid chamber is supplied to a recording head of the known recording apparatus through the liquid supply opening.
The liquid container has a valve configured to selectively open and close the liquid supply opening. The valve is stored in a cylindrical storage chamber which is partitioned from the liquid chamber by a portioning wall. The storage chamber is in fluid communication with the liquid chamber via an opening formed through the partitioning wall. When the liquid chamber is filled with liquid during the manufacture of the liquid container, the interior of the storage chamber may not be filled with the liquid, and air may remain in the interior of the storage chamber adjacent to the liquid supply opening. When liquid is supplied from the liquid chamber to the recording head, the air in the interior of the storage chamber may enter the recording head, which may cause defective liquid discharge from the recording head. Therefore, there is a need to remove air from a space adjacent to the liquid supply opening.
In order to remove air from the space adjacent to the liquid supply opening, in a known method, the liquid chamber is filled with liquid after the interior of the liquid chamber is depressurized. With this method, the amount of air remaining in the space adjacent to the liquid supply opening may be reduced. Nevertheless, even in this method, it is difficult to remove all or substantially all of the air in the space adjacent to the liquid supply opening.